September 14 Bargaining Update

On the heels of MIT reaching a Tentative Agreement on their entire contract, we completed our eighth bargaining session! We reached Tentative Agreements on FOUR articles (Inclusive Work Environment, Appointment Notification, Scope of Work, and Employee Rights) and now are actively negotiating ALL of our language proposals. You can view the text on our bargaining tracker. Our next bargaining session is a half day session on October 3rd.

What’s my job?

We reached a Tentative Agreement on Appointment Notification, which means that we will now receive an appointment letter that delineates our responsibilities, expectations, and logistical details related to our employment. Importantly, if you are starting a teaching appointment, you will receive information on the maximum number of students that can be enrolled in a course AND the estimated number of TAs assigned to a course. Clear expectations of the student-to-TA ratio is beneficial for both grad workers and the students they are teaching!

BIG wins on protections

Our other Tentative Agreements win critical protections and rights that we deserve as employees! The TAs we reached today enshrine a range of demands for graduate workers, including: 

• Employee Rights - necessary supplies, clear responsibilities/expectations, up front expense coverage/prompt reimbursement, work space
• Scope of Work - cannot be required to work towards another employee’s personal efforts, any administrative work required will be outlined in appointment letter
• Inclusive Work Environment - disability accommodations, provisions for employee names/pronouns, spaces for religious practice and lactations

Continuing the fight for International Worker Rights, Non-Discrimination, and Union Security 

We are making progress on some of our crucial fights! We pushed back on the admin’s exclusion of support for international workers across immigration statuses such as asylum seekers. “These are people who are in very vulnerable positions and could benefit from the guidance and help that the University could provide,” Alejandro Abisambra (Management and Organizations/Sociology) emphasized.

Following MIT’s wins, we are continuing our fight for a comprehensive non-discrimination policy backed by the grievance procedure that extends protections to as many marginalized groups as possible! We are also keeping pressure on the admin to secure union security and ensure the health and longevity of our collective power.

SHOW UP SHOW OUT

We are PUMPED to see everyone at all of our exciting NUGW-UE events this Fall! Make sure to RSVP for the International Grad Worker Potluck on 9/21, the General Membership Meeting on 9/27, the Open Fall Social on 9/29, and the NUGW Past and Present talk on 10/4. See you there!

Signed, The NUGW-UE Bargaining Committee: Alejandro Abisambra (Management and Organizations and Sociology), Jade Basinski (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Maddie Brucker (Computer Science & Learning Sciences), Lawrence Chillrud (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Peter Cummings (Clinical Psychology), Adam Goldsmith (Communication Studies), Jack Hamill (Music), Reem Ibrahim (Interdepartmental Neuroscience), Lauren Johnson (English), Cataldo Lamarca (Materials Science and Engineering), Elisabeth Latawiec (Chemistry), Thomas McKenzie-Smith (Physics and Astronomy), Behailu Mihirete (Communication Studies), Ben Oxley (Chemistry), Summer Pappachen (Political Science), Sebastian Poblete (Economics), Andrew Poverman (Physics and Astronomy), Adrian Ray-Avalani (Linguistics), Jakob Reinke (Materials Science and Engineering), Mounica Sreesai (Anthropology), Drew Weidner (Chemical and Biological Engineering), Teke Wiggin (Sociology), Ruoxi Zhu (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Kavi Chintam (Chemical and Biological Engineering), Esther (Em) Kamm (History)